Scientists have proven that fish can recognize friends by "faces"

It is generally believed that the intellectual abilities of fish leave much to be desired. I immediately recall the offensive proverb: "You have a memory of 3 seconds, like a goldfish." Although with respect to the goldfish, this is definitely not the case. But scientists, it seems, restored justice by proving that fish can not only remember the "faces" of relatives, but also quickly determine by them whether this is a friend or a stranger.

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Doubts in the fish memory were dispelled by the small striped fish cichlid (Julidochromis transcriptus), which lives on the rocky shores of the picturesque Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. Since the fish lives among the rocks hidden by lake algae, it constantly hides. Fish can be seen only by a small part of the neighbor, who is also in no hurry to appear outside (the life of small fish in African lakes is generally difficult). Scientists are interested in whether the fish in such a situation can find out who they see, and by what part of the body they determine it.

In the photo: Cichlid (Julidochromis transcriptus) / Source: Roberto Nistri / Alamy Stock Photo

Researchers isolated eight adult males from a group of fish they knew and placed them in an aquarium. There they were shown digital models of other individuals, which were assembled like a puzzle from the signs of familiar and unfamiliar fish. It turned out that most of the subjects were disturbed by unfamiliar "faces", and they did not pay much attention to the shape of the fins, tail and body.

The experimental fish followed the fish aquarium for a long time with unfamiliar "faces", which in the fish world is a sign of mistrust and expectation of a potential threat from a stranger. Most of the attention they paid to the areas around the eyes of suspicious individuals.

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Scientists were more inspired not by the fact that fish are able to remember “faces”, but by what they need this ability in theory: the discovery suggests that fish can build more complex social relationships within a group than previously thought.

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Researchers are convinced that fish are more complex than they appear, and they, like mammals, need certain cognitive abilities. Experts also believe that the problem of determining the intelligence of animals is the competitiveness of such tests: "who is smarter." New fish intelligence abilities can serve as the basis for creating a new, more advanced testing system.